The foul stench of the sewers made it hard for Aly to breathe correctly. But he had to persevere. He hurriedly laid down a cloth on the damp ground and took out a bag of salt, then used his teeth to tear a small hole in one corner.
'Now how did it look like…'
He went through his memory until he could finally remember the faint image of a circle containing the image of a snake eating its own tail. He then tried multiple times to recreate as best as he could.
'This looks more like a damned worm than a snake. I really can not draw' He thought silently to himself.
Alymur proceeded to take out a small knife from his backpack and carefully slit his thumb on the blade, his black blood slowly flowing out of the small wound he had created.
It steadily dropped onto the sigil, staining the white salt and turning it black, before eventually spreading throughout the sigil, as if it was devouring the white salt and turning it into something otherworldly.
The sewers were filled with a blinding purple light, momentarily blinding Alymur before dissipating into his body.
The first couple of steps had been completed, and now he could finally proceed to the final step.
It was pretty simple, really.
All he had to do was die.
"This is fucking ridiculous. What if this does not work?" Aly said aloud, hesitation and doubt creeping into his mind.
"Is strength even worth dying for? It's not like anyone cares about me dying in the first place…"
"Well, maybe Grace, but I'm sure the old hag will move on.'
He walked towards the middle of the sigil, his knife in his hand.
'Fuck, I have indeed gone mad. Trusting the words of hallucinations'
He hesitatingly moved the knife towards his chest, placing it directly over his heart, his arms trembling with fright.
"I am sorry, Aunt Grace, you have shown me kindness in a world that considers me mad."
"And I could not even say a proper goodbye."
'Am such a coward'
Those were his final thoughts as he gathered his courage, finally plunging the knife clumsily into his chest, piercing his heart, causing his blood to pour out of the wound.
Aly let out a painful scream, one filled with regret, as he collapsed to the ground, eventually losing consciousness as he bled out slowly.
His vision had turned dark.
He had died.
____________________________________________________________________________
In a land far, far away.
One filled with black sand and arid, hot, putrid air
A desolate hell-scape where life itself was forced to be mad, the figure of a lone boy
Slowly manifested itself into existence, adorned in a tattered silvery grey coat.
Aly had finally started his dreadful trial.
As soon as his legs touched the ground, the air around him immediately felt heavier than what he was used to, forcing him to collapse upon the ground.
Aly felt as if an unknown force was crushing his entire self, his body now firmly planted on the ground.
He could feel his bones being crushed, cracking under the pressure, causing him to let out multiple piercing screams.
He tried desperately to breathe, but the air itself felt like poison to him; each breath made his lungs feel as if they were burning.
He wailed wildly on the floor before once again losing his consciousness, his body slowly adapting over the time he was knocked out.
A slow, painful process that would help rebuild his body, creating a form that was able to survive in these harsh lands.
His bones crushed themselves repeatedly, his limbs flailed and contorted inhumanely, and black blood poured out of his eyes, its liquid form glimmering under the harshness of the sun.
The process was relentless and slow, spanning numerous hours, and unknown to Aly, he had garnered the attention of one of the denizens of this wretched realm.
Not so far from his wailing body, a morbidly grotesque figure appeared out of the sand. It had appeared as a hunchback, and upon close inspection, one could see that his skin was rotting and festering, riddled with numerous worm-like creatures. His neck was convulsing irregularly as if it were a living creature trying to escape.
His face, if it could even be called a face, wore an unnerving smile barely held together by stitches. The creature had no nose, no ears, and his eyes were sewn on to his face.
It twisted its face, forcing the stitches to be undone, spewing its vile, acidic blood all over the sand, and slowly moved its mouth open.
"Huuman... hahaaa... HUMAN!
A BEAUTIFUL HUMAN!"
"TREASURE. TREASURE. TREAT AS TREASURE."
"MORE GIFTS. MORE GIFTS."
His dreadful voice bellowed throughout the barren lands, a mismatch of female and male vocaloids. It sounded so beautifully humane, yet its incoherent nature revealed the twisted nature of the strange creature.
"CAPTURE I MUST, CAPTURE CAPTURE CAPTURE," The creature wailed, making his way to the unconscious body slowly.
The creature limped towards Aly and stood right above him, its neck by now convulsing violently until a bulge formed, slowly growing in size.
Eventually, the growing stopped, and his neck, which resembled a disgusting ball of flesh, burst open with a dreadful squelching sound, blood exploding in countless directions.
Multiple worms made their way out of its torn neck, slowly covering the body of the unconscious child, covering him in a grotesque cocoon made of living maggots.
The creature grabbed the small figure of Aly, cradling him in its long arms.
The creature could no longer talk as its vocal cords were still regenerating; it lunged downwards into the sand, carrying Aly underground.
Aly had been captured unknowingly and was being taken to the dreadful residence of the vile abomination.